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A Creative Month for Social Media

It’s that time of year again! No, it’s not Christmas or even International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Rather, it’s a month full of events that lend themselves to creative social media campaigning.

From February 2 to March 2, we will witness the Suberbowl, the Olympics, and the Oscars (with Valentine’s Day and a snow storm or two nestled in the middle). These events are opportune and exciting times to engage with your audience no matter what industry you Tweet from.

For example, the television show Portlandia based in Portland, Oregon, tweeted during the Superbowl from the point of view of some of its characters – the feminist owners of the Women & Women First bookstore. Tweets included comments referring to past episodes and football, like “pigskin. Is it vegan? Is it kosher? Where did the pig grow up? I wann a see the farm”. The account also facilitated conversations, leading with questions like “Peyton Manning: feminist? #SuperBowl #Portlandia #FeministBookstoreSaysWhat.”

Like the Superbowl, the Olympics is an event that connects audiences on an emotional level. Social media strategies, like Proctor & Gamble’s “Thank you, Mom” campaign, thinks outside of the box to engage audiences during these events on social media platforms. Proctor & Gamble showed possible flashbacks of Olympic athletes growing up and practicing their sport with the support of their mothers. It is a means to uncover an emotion that connects us all.

Social media encourages us to think outside of the box, to get creative, and see all the different perspectives in how we connect together in our world. It’s going to be an exciting month.

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7 comments

For all the negative attention the Coke ad garnered during the Super Bowl, it really seems that the majority of people were just fine with it, but a small, VOCAL minority got out their social media platforms and started all the hype and controversy. In reality, this is nothing new for Coke, witness their “If I could teach the world to sing” promotion. They have ALWAYS celebrated the diversity of their GLOBAL brand. Many of those upset by the ad were under the mistaken belief that by having “America the Beautiful” sung in different languages Coke was disgracing the national anthem. News flash kids, that’s NOT the National Anthem.

In a way, this incident perfectly illustrates the dangers of social media, because it allows any idiot with an opinion a platform from which to shout their views and influence others. As responsible adults and social media connoisseurs, it is OUR job to apply the filters, do the research, and determine weather or not to lend our support.

It is definitely a creative month for social media, but it is also a controversial one! Wherever there are events, competitions or publicized occurrences, there is almost always some mystery or controversy surrounding it. For example, the Olympics in Sochi have stirred up a lot of LGBT support and discrimination issues. Thomas Bach, the IOC (International Olympic Committee) President, gave a speech that was edited by by NBC to not include an anti-discrimination statement! Why would that be?

I ran across this article today on Facebook. It may or not be true, because I haven’t even been able to watch the Olympics yet. What do you think?

This was a very interesting read. I must say the Olympic commercials are really heart felt and sure to be remembered for their emotional value. I also think the tweets on Twitter about #SochiProblems are funny to read due to the fact that the living conditions are not the best there. https://twitter.com/SochiProblems if you want to follow something a little different than the medalist.

The “I Love You Mom” ad touched my emotions most definately, but I’m a mom and it was cute. I watched a comercial Bing put on that was very emotional for me as well. Here’s a link – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyB7bzYRoqY It was titled “Celebrating the Heroic Women of 2013”

I missed the Coca Cola add because I didn’t watch the whole Superbowl. My team (San Francisco 49er’s) is the Seahawk’s greatest rival.. So it was no fun seeing them stomp Denver. I searched for the commercial today when I got home and found a lot more about it than the commercial itself. Then I saw the commercial, which struck me as a little strange at first because I did not know where they were going with it. In the end, I couldn’t see what all the fuss was about. The video on this link, puts the reaction to the ad in the perspective of what America stands for. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/02/03/coca-cola-ad-super-bowl-racism/5177463/

The LGBT has a lot more power than the people for a free Tibet did when they wanted a boycott of the Beijing Olympics. But then again, social media was just getting started or not in existence in 2008. I am learning how to use social media in this class (mainly Twitter, which I still have questions about–like what are all those hash tags about anyway?) But if we had had a strong social media presence then like we do today, I wonder how successful the “Free Tibet” coalition would have been.

I have been thinking about what I would do if I were one of the sponsors of the Olympics, which would take up another blog post and I am curious, does anyone in the class have any good ideas?

Social media campaigns and sponsorships of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi seem to be more difficult than in past years due to all of the controversy surrounding Russia’s laws and the LGBT community. Companies sponsoring the Olympics this year have received a lot negative feedback from LGBT supporters. This is happening very noticeably via social media. Here is a very interesting Forbes article, published just last night, that illustrates the difficulties that many companies are having. McDonald’s, Coco-Cola, Visa, and Proctor & Gamble are all among them. http://www.forbes.com/sites/avidan/2014/02/05/for-coke-and-mcdonalds-ignoring-the-power-of-social-media-to-disrupt-means-no-medals-in-sochi/

This statement at the end of the article really suck out to me: “What makes a backlash against the Sochi sponsors so dangerous to the reputation of the sponsoring companies is that social media controversy tends to be amplified into established media.This gives it an extended time span, lasting long after the final bobsled run and ski jump, and it can continue to erode the companies’ image for a long time.”

I find this very interesting and wonder how and if companies might change the way they used to to take advantage of the Olympics this year. There is definitely a controversy surrounding the games this year that hasn’t been an issue in the past. It is already proving to be a challenge.

Here’s a YouTube video that illustrates how effective social media has been in the days leading up to the Olympics. Although this doesn’t relate much to social media campaigns and sponsorships, it is very interesting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWkX30rUrsg#t=121